Studio Bigi Carità was founded in 2006 by two partners, Lucia Bigi and Stefano Carità. Since 2008 the architectural firm has performed consultancy in the shipping area for naval refitting.
In 2016 the firm started work on one of the most talked-about cruise projects in recent years. This was, of course, Virgin Voyages’ first foray into the cruise industry, the ship Scarlet Lady. We had to know more! We discussed the details of their work, from how the secured the job to their own highlights within the design project.
Here is their story, in their own words…
The Design Story
We started working on the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady in 2016, thanks to a Fincantieri contract concerning A1 phase of all public areas on board.
The A1 phase consists of verifying and integrating the designers’ concept idea into technical ship documents. This creates overall drawings of the area by combining the designers’ will with the necessary technical and engineering aspects.
We got the job through our work with renowned contractor company, Marine Interiors. The company, in this case, entrusted us with the executive design of Scarlet Lady‘s public areas.
Thanks to the extensive knowledge of the project gained during the A1 phase, we continued the ship’s development thus giving added value to our work. The contractor had the opportunity to rely on our technicians, participating together in meetings with the ship owner company during the final stage of approval.
We followed the executive phase throughout its development, from the project approval to the implementation of the final technical and architectural design.
Enjoying the challenges
Luckly for us, the shipyard was precisely in our city, Genoa, therefore we had the opportunity to get on board during construction. The last stage was the survey on board. This gave us the pleasure of visiting the completed ship. It is always exciting for designers to have the chance to see their own and others’ work done. We also created a set of As-Built construction drawings.
One of the challenges of working on a project such as this is the freshness of the project. As a prototype ship, all the issues must be faced for the first time without having a reference ship to compare with. This has been at the same time a difficulty and an exciting challenge.
We are particularly proud of the ‘Test Kitchen’ aboard Scarlet Lady. Its innovative design required extra attention to design and details. However, we are delighted about the result.
So what’s next?
Our next goal is to develop a concept design.
We are starting to take our first steps and we think it could be an exciting new adventure. Our firm has a solid technical background, thanks to the experience gained in recent years with newbuilding and refitting. This has certainly an added value in the process of a concept project.
During the construction site experiences in which we have been involved for 12 years, we acquired an overview of all the aspects necessary for the development and implementation of a quality project.
We are really proud to announce that we will share some news about this during the London 2020 CSIE. So, come and talk to us on Stand 724, we will be happy to meet you!